As we come to the close of March and a month of centering women’s accomplishments remember that BlackPast.org celebrates Black women’s history every day.  This week we shine a spotlight on women in sport to center the unnamed stars of various sporting fields who advanced both female and Black participation in their particular sport. March Madness gives a starting point: basketball, or more specifically, the WNBA! And there is probably no greater fan of this franchise around than BlackPast contributor, Manos Karousos, who has kindly taken time to curate a little history lesson on one of his favorite players, MVP Lusia Mae Harris. 

Without a doubt a highlight of any athlete is participation in the Olympic Games, especially when that participation is accompanied by a unique record. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, Harris scored the first basket in women’s basketball!

The national team lost to the USSR 112-77 but the phenomenal Lusia Mae Harris would come to dominate the sport. You can read more about her life here. Joining the basketball team at Delta State College, based in Cleveland, as a center, Harris was part of a very interesting starting line-up. In her first season in 1973-74 she helped Delta State reach third place in the Inter-State Championship although they did not make it to the Nationals. Playing with the school for over three seasons, Harris became somewhat of a local hero. In the 1974/75 season she led the Lady Statesmen to a nationally televised 90-81 victory over Immaculata College, which had won Nationals each year between 1972-1974. Her statistics were 32 points and 16 rebounds.

Delta State finished the season with a record 28-0. In the final four games of the season Harris scored 136 points and grabbed 63 rebounds and was named the MVP.

The Lady Statesmen won against Immaculata again in 1975/76 with Harris posting a double-double (30 point – 18 rebounds). She won MVP and Mississippi State Female Athlete of the Year. Her final year 1976/1977 was outstanding. In the finals against Louisiana State College, Lusia Mae Harris scored 23 points and saved 16 rebounds. She was again MVP for the season, as well as winning the Honda Sports Award, best female athlete in basketball, and the Broderick Cup best athlete in a women’s sport award.

In 1977 Harris graduated from Delta State College with a degree in physical education and health sciences. That same year she was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz (Utah Jazz) at number 137 of the 7th round. She declined the offer.

To amplify her achievements on the court for those who are not aficionados of the great game: In a total of 115 games, she won 109, scored a total of 2,981 points (25.9 per game) or a quarter of all points scored, and grabbed 1,662 rebounds (14.5 per game). Her record is unlikely to be broken anytime soon.

Manos